


First Date (Flyers)

by FandomLastsForever



Series: Musical May [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Dates, Minor Crime Dads, Minor Poly-STR mention, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 11:32:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10830399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomLastsForever/pseuds/FandomLastsForever
Summary: I’m sick of wilding outI wanna burn my dreadI’m down for something differentDown for getting out my headJames and Qrow reluctantly join their friends for a date night. Everything is awkward until they get some time alone to talk.





	First Date (Flyers)

**Author's Note:**

> Ironqrow Entry 3: First Date  
> Inspired by Y. Chang's cover of "Flyers", originally performed by Bradio.

_"Come on, James!"_

"Please?"

"For the last time no!"

Once again, they came to him. Every damn time either of them wanted a double or even triple date, they tried to set him up with some stranger. His brother meant well, James knew that. Hei just wanted to see him happy. And so did Tai. And James was grateful for that.

But every time they asked him to join them on a date night, it ended in one of them getting dumped, a fist fight, or the dates would cancel last minute. Not to mention the fact most people tended to stare the moment they saw the metal plate over his right eye.

Which didn't help in any way to boost his confidence in this date.

 _"Come on!"_ Taiyang begged. "Raven is, like, super awesome! She's one of my dream girls. And her brother ain't half bad either!"

"And Roman said no unless we brought someone for Qrow to talk to," Hei explained.

"I don't want to go," James groaned. "Can't you tell them I'm sick or something?"

"Nope," Tai sighed. "Look, you don't have to even technically date him. Just kinda, you know, be there?"

"We'll need a designated driver anyway," Hei said. "And dinner's on us, so you know."

James looked up from his book, eyebrow raised questioningly. "Simple Wok?"

"You know it," Tai laughed. "It's "All you can eat" night, too."

James turned his attention back to his book, lips pressed tightly together in thought. On the one hand, he was tired of going on dates that most likely wouldn't pan out. He loved Hei and Taiyang, but he didn't want to be put through the wringer again.

Yet on the other hand, James was a sucker for some pork fried rice.

"Alright," he conceded. "But only for the food."

Hei gave him one of his precious smiles, ruffling James' hair with a soft, "Thank you, didi."

"Hei, please. Not the hair."

"Oh, I wanna ruffle it too!" Taiyang cheered.

"No, no, no-!"

James attempted to roll off the sofa, but his reflexes were no match for Tai speed, and the next thing he knew, his cousin had him in a tackle hug.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"No."

 _"But Qrow!_ He's a hunk! And totally your type!"

"No, Ro."

Qrow didn't look up from his game pad as Roman attempted to poke him with the end of his cane. As nice as a date sounded, he wasn't interested in his roomie's escapades. He was content being the D.D. and that was it.

"Come on, Qrow," Raven groaned. "You've been saying how you want to go on a date for weeks, and now one suddenly appears on radar, you're not interested?"

"That's about it," Qrow said drily. "Now do you mind? I'm about to get an eleven-hit combo and I need to focus on...uh..."

Qrow's eyes darted away from the game when Roman shoved his phone in his face. On the screen was a man with black hair slicked back, with only a few tuffs falling into his face. His eyes were blue, and full of life. There was a metal plate over his left eyebrow, and _damn_ could he rock a turtleneck.

Qrow almost took the phone out of the ginger man's hand to get a better look, until he heard a shrill cry of an announcer.

**_"LOTUS NINJA WINS! TOTAL ANNIHILATION!"_ **

"Dammit Roman!" Qrow groaned. "I almost had him!"

"Not my fault, _Soaring Ninja,"_ Roman chuckled. "Come on, it'll be fun! Junior's a great guy and I'm going out with him, his cousin Tai is pretty chill and a perfect counter for Rae, and Hei's little brother, James? I think he's definitely Qrow Branwen material." He handed Qrow the phone, his visible green eye sparkling playfully. "What do you say? Wanna give it a shot?"

Qrow stared at the photograph for a moment, lost in thought. The guy seemed nice enough. And he was pretty good looking.

But was he smart? Did he enjoy a good joke? Was he calm and collected or a total asshole?

_Was he even into guys?_

"I guess I'll go," Qrow sighed. "Only for the food though."

"Not just food," Raven snickered.

"Shut up, Rae."

"Perfect," Roman chuckled. "Then tomorrow we go shopping to find something nice to wear."

"We're just going to the Simple Wok, Ro," Raven groaned.

"And dancing. There's this awesome club that just opened. And I hear the DJ is a really cute girl. Maybe you and Tai will hit it off there on the dance floor."

"You had me at cute girl."

"Seriously Raven?" Qrow growled.

"Come on Qrow," Raven chuckled. "You know I won't bail on a date. If the date leaves me, however, I at least want to flirt with a pretty girl."

"What if the pretty girl starts flirting with your date then, Bird-Brain?"

"Then I'll flirt with both of them and we have a lovely 'nap' together."

"You have quite the confidence in your abilities, don't you?"

"You bet I do, Dodo."

Qrow rolled his eyes and handed Roman back the phone before turning his attention back to the game.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_"You know what? I changed my mind. I want to go home."_

_"I agree. Do we have to come here, Tai?"_

Qrow held back a snarl as he was dragged into the night club by the over excited love birds. The music blared loudly through the speakers as the lights flashed from above. Dinner had been an awkward silence between everyone for a majority of the time. Qrow and James had tried to make conversation at first, but the boisterous attitudes of Roman and Tai made for a very prolonged dip in speech.

Personally, James hated night clubs.

And Qrow was trying to cut back on the alcohol.

Neither of them wanted to be there tonight.

"Come on!" Roman laughed. "This is gonna be great! Let's dance!" He grabbed Junior by the hand and dragged him out to the dance floor. "Let's party!"

"My lady," Taiyang said, holding a hand out to Raven.

"Screw the gentleman act," she cackled, dragging him by the collar to the dance floor.

"I swear," Qrow sighed. "Those two don't know when to stop."

"Tell me about it," James grumbled in agreement, rubbing his lower back.

Qrow looked him over, eyebrow raised. "Wanna find a table? I think I see one over there."

"That'd be great," James said. "Thanks."

Qrow took James' gloved hand and led him over to the empty table near the bathrooms, both of them letting out a breath neither realized they were holding. Qrow's red eyes wandered about, taking in the sight of everything before them. It wasn't exactly the nicest looking club, but the music was at least decent. Raven and Taiyang were both staring at the DJ as opposed to each other.

"Dammit Tai," James groaned. "The DJ is just his type."

"Really?" Qrow hummed. "Rae also likes them short and cute." James looked at him with a befuddled expression, and Qrow tried hard not to blush at how cute it was.

"Wait, is you sis-"

"Not my place to say," Qrow shrugged. "Though I'm guessing Tai is the same?"

"Very much so," James chuckled, wincing slightly.

"You alright?" Qrow asked.

"Yes," James replied. "Just some lower back pain. Haven't felt right since...well, it's been a while. I'll be fine."

Qrow narrowed his eyes, his brain running at a thousand miles a second and putting the pieces together. Turtle neck, glove, back pain, and a metal plate over his brow.

"How long since recovery?" Qrow asked softly.

James stiffened, but his expression was gentle. "About six months since I've had to go to physical therapy. Been about a year and a half since the actual accident."

"Does it hurt? The prosthetics?"

"Not usually," James said. "Normally they're fine. I think there's a loose wire or something. I'll be fine until I get home."

"If you want, I can fix it," Qrow offered. "I keep a toolkit on me all the time."

"You know how to fix this?"

"Yep," he said with a pop. "We can go fix it now while our pals are distracted."

James hesitated for a moment, but nodded in agreement. "In a bit. After Roman and Hei stop staring."

Qrow looked out of the corner of his eye and saw the familiar green eye staring at him from the crowed. "Good idea. Don't want them thinking we're doing anything scandalous."  
While they waited, Qrow ordered them two ginger ales, and the two of them finally had a chance to talk without the others breathing down their necks. Qrow learned James was an engineer at Polendina Robotics, and that he and Junior were brothers. James wanted to be a science teacher someday, and he really enjoyed video games.

"Favorite game?" Qrow asked. "Mine's Total Annihilation."

"I-It's stupid," James stammered. "You'll think it's stupid.

"Come on," Qrow insisted, playfully nudging his arm. "What is it? I won't laugh!"

"Okay," James chuckled. "I'm really into DDR. We actually have a set up in the garage, and I have the high score."

"Wait, you mean with those roll up game pads?"

"Nope. An actual machine."

"You're kidding!"

"I'm not! And we customized it to play music from our collection. Not just what was preprogrammed."

"Okay, I have to see this."

"Maybe you can come over sometime. We can hang out."

"I'd love that." Qrow looked up and saw that Roman and Junior were too far across the dance floor to see them. Raven and Tai were flirting with the silver eyed DJ, who appeared to return the sentiments. "Wanna go fix that wire problem?"

"Please," James sighed in relief. "I don't think I can stand it anymore."

Qrow helped him out of the chair and they went over to the restroom as inconspicuously as possible, which was rather difficult when James was six foot six and limping. After he made a quick sweep of the stalls, Qrow moved the trash can in front of the door to act as a temporary barricade so they could have some privacy, reaching into his blazer pocket to pull out the tool kit.

"You ready?" Qrow asked.

"S-sure," James mumbled. "Just...don't freak out, okay?"

"I won't," Qrow promised. "Now take off the shirt and lean against the sink."

Hesitantly, James did as he was told, and threw off his navy blue turtleneck. Qrow had to hold back a soft whine.

 _Fuck you Roman,_ he thought. _James really is my type._

Without a second to spare, Qrow set to work on repairing the loose wires in James' back. They were easily accessible, and not overly complex in comparison to the older models.

"So how do you and Tai know each other?" Qrow asked, in an attempt to keep James' mind off the embarrassment both of them were feeling.

"He's Hei's cousin on his mother's side," James said.

"I thought you and Junior were brothers," Qrow said.

"I...was adopted," James mumbled.

"No kidding? Raven and me were too."

"No way."

"Way, way. Nini is the best. I think they'd like you."

"Really?"

"Really, really. Maybe you can come over to our place sometime and meet them."

"Not even a second date and you want me to meet your parent?"

Qrow's face grew scarlet. "I-I didn't-"

"Relax," James chuckled. "I'm only teasing."

God, he's perfect," Qrow thought.

"Qrow?" James asked.

"Yes?"

"How come you're not freaked out about...uh..."

"Your prosthetics?"

"Yeah."

"They're nothing to be afraid of," Qrow shrugged. "They're a part of you, and you're not scary. People who are put off by them are not worth the time of day."

James lightly nodded, smiling. "You know...I'm glad I came along tonight..."

"Same," Qrow chuckled.

"To be honest," James admitted, "I didn't want to at first. I only came with for the fried rice."

"Hey," Qrow chuckled. "That's a valid reason to come along. Simple Wok has the best rice.

"That it does."

Qrow quickly finished the repairs and put his tools away.

"So," James stammered. "I know tonight hasn't exactly been the best date night...but..."

"But?" Qrow asked.

"I wouldn't mind a do over. Just you and me."

"You really want to go out again?"

"Yes."

Qrow gave him a playful grin, gently tugging on the collar of James' shirt. "You sure you're not just saying that for the fried rice?"

"I mean it," James insisted. "You're...a pretty cool guy. And I wouldn't mind going out again, if you wanted."

"I'd love that," Qrow said. "How about next Friday? I'll pick you up at your place."

"Sounds perfect."

"Perfect." Qrow leaned up on his toes and placed a soft kiss on James' lips. "Now, should we head back out before they start wondering where we are?"

James' eyes dilated slightly, and Qrow felt his heart racing as the taller man moved in closer with a gentle growl.

"Let them wonder."

James gently cupped Qrow's face in his hands, pulling him in for a slow, passionate kiss. Qrow's arms flew around him, and soon his back was pressed against the wall.

 _Yes,_ Qrow thought. _Let them wonder._

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this is late. Power went out last night.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!


End file.
